Chapter 212: Lu Chen’s Critical Strike Power [Four Chapters Combined; The White Dew Arc Begins!]

At the edge of the Morning Glow trade route, in the silent airspace where it intersects with the Blizzard trade route, stands the Imperial cubic fortress, Achilles.

Golden twilight bathes the sharp, angular silver bastion. Warships of all sizes flow in and out through its six-sided docks. The core of Achilles is a spherical void, its inner walls covered in dense spatial arrays. Suspended at the center of this void is a stone platform, 368 meters wide—the smallest teleportation array Imperial technology can construct. The surface of the rotating black platform is etched with vertical spirit runes.

As the blue glow of the array fades, the central platform slowly comes to a halt. A small Imperial Silver-Ray shuttle appears on the platform. The cabin door opens, and a young woman in a red-and-white bodysuit jumps down, clutching a silver helmet. She is of medium height, with a balanced, perfect physique; only her thighs are slightly plump and toned, giving her an exceptionally agile appearance. She has a standard round face and a pair of crimson eyes that seem like they are submerged in the deep sea—dim and lusterless. Her features are pure and delicate, devoid of any discernible expression. Only her flowing, wine-red short hair bounces with each step, giving her a brisk, spirited air.

After the array stops, the Silver-Ray shuttle slowly ascends toward the top dock. The woman walks along the suspended corridor toward the General's Mansion. Bischoff, the political officer of Achilles, and his deputy stand at the end of the corridor, personally welcoming this rising star of the Empire. The woman walks quickly, then suddenly stops in front of them, performing a standard Imperial military salute—so standard that Bischoff feels a bit embarrassed, especially in the presence of such a beautiful young woman.

She is Colonel Isaphir, captain of the First Team of the Silver Rose Mecha Special Forces. She is a woman whose body is entirely mechanized—save for her brain—and whose muscles and blood vessels have been genetically enhanced to a whole new realm. As a rising star among the Imperial Paladins and the strongest knight in the Silver Rose, she is well-known in the military, yet surprisingly polite.

"Political General Bischoff!"

In the fleet, a Political General holds the same rank as a General, leading political affairs. Bischoff and his deputy return the salute.

"Just call me Bischoff, Colonel Isaphir... The General thought you would attend via projection, which is why you were notified so late."

"This time is different. Projections are not necessarily secure," the woman says calmly.

Bischoff is taken aback. "Even you think so?"

"If I recall correctly, the emergency meeting at the General's Mansion half a month ago was also held offline. Even wrist-links were not allowed in the room, and paper photos were printed." The woman's voice is as calm as falling snow—slow and polite, but carrying an inherent, bone-chilling coldness.

Bischoff has nothing to say. Every closed-door meeting at the General's Mansion is recorded by video and transmitted to Imperial headquarters, either synchronously or with a delay. He just hadn't expected that Isabella, only a Colonel, would have the clearance to view General-level meeting recordings.

"Let's go. The General has been waiting for you for a long time."

Passing through an indoor maple forest, the three reach the conference room in the backyard of the General's Mansion. Everyone has arrived; only Isaphir is missing. Seeing Major General Abuzhai at the head of the table—dressed in a crisp military uniform and wearing a wig, looking remarkably young—Isaphir frowns slightly, thinking she has mistaken the person. After confirming multiple times that the man before her is indeed Major General Abuzhai, one of the youngest generals in the Empire, she salutes.

"General, you are even younger than I imagined."

Bischoff is dumbfounded. A moment ago, this old man was wearing a grey robe and petting a cat; in the blink of an eye, he has become a handsome young man.

Abuzhai’s eyes are sharp, his aura imposing, and he says dashingly, "This is my true appearance. The old man disguise was to maintain dignity and keep my subordinates more obedient."

Bischoff covers his face, speechless... he has lost. The Empire prizes technology. If a young, beautiful single mecha-maiden like Colonel Isaphir were marketed in the news, she would surely become an Imperial idol rivaling Princess Yinlan. To think that Abuzhai, an "old dog" who swore to remain single forever, instantly grew fifty years younger upon seeing her. He was too reserved. But then, he is nearly two hundred years old, and his great-granddaughter just turned a month old. He cannot interfere in the era of the youth.

Abuzhai sips his tea, eyes sweeping the room, his aura overwhelming—he is like a different person. "Please, everyone, take your seats."

Before the meeting begins, Abuzhai asks Isaphir, "What is the follow-up on the Behemoth Paradise?"

He asks because all the star-beast paradises of the Star-Beast Herders have been taken over by the Silver Rose, and the Achilles General's Mansion no longer has the authority to inquire.

Isaphir replies calmly, "The director was killed by Irfan, and her head was brought back to the Silver Rose flagship. Before she died, she shielded the remaining fleet of the park as they retreated. The current whereabouts of that fleet are unknown."

Abuzhai’s eyes narrow, and he nods slightly. "Thank you for your hard work." He knows well that if the Silver Rose had pursued them with full force, not a single ship would have escaped. He and Lau-Shilun were once classmates; he had secretly entrusted Colonel Isaphir, who knew the director, hoping she could spare the director’s life and let her live under an assumed name. It seems the director sacrificed her own life to let the fleet survive. For Colonel Isaphir, the responsibility she had to bear was even greater. Yet, she had agreed.

The meeting begins. Isaphir puts down her helmet, sits cross-legged, and begins to present the first-hand investigation report on the Behemoth Paradise.

"The Black Dragon is the mastermind behind this incident. Although it doesn't seem premeditated, Vincent's reaction was too fast. He quickly used biological signals to hack into the spirit runes within the beasts, awakening their intelligence."

Bischoff picks up his teacup and sighs. "There is nothing to be done about that. The spirit runes that control the star-beasts were designed by Professor Vincent himself. At that time, he was still teaching at the Royal Truth Academy, and I met him several times. A hundred years have passed in a blink, and that white-haired, unassuming professor who buried himself in research has actually betrayed the Empire."

Abuzhai rubs his right leg, easing the discomfort of having no cat to pet. "To be active on the front lines at such an age, he cannot be seeking money, power, or the fame of a scientist."

Bischoff nods. "That is what makes him most dangerous."

Abuzhai sighs softly. "I hope they are not operating on the Morning Glow route."

Isaphir opens her helmet's light screen. The helmet is not connected to the network; it contains the data she prepared in advance. "The latest news is that a giant ship carrying three hundred star-beasts has been detected entering the Blizzard route. Any subsequent developments will remain under the sole jurisdiction of the Silver Rose."

Abuzhai and Bischoff both breathe a sigh of relief. Isaphir continues, "Another piece of inside information: within half an hour of the Battle of Meiyu Star, our fleet detected an artificial black hole and spirit pressure exceeding level 300 in the Zu'an Nebula."

Bischoff exclaims, "What!"

Abuzhai adds, "Since I took office, no such major figure has appeared on the Morning Glow route... It seems a Heavenly-Tier powerhouse has become interested in the Black Dragon's trail."

The Chief of Staff realizes, "Could it be that the *Archer*, the third ship of the Guernica fleet, was destroyed by this person?"

"Exactly," Isaphir nods, then suddenly changes the subject. "But he may not be looking for the Black Dragon."

"Hm?" Everyone frowns in unison.

Isaphir explains, "He could have easily captured the Green-Winged Dragon and the Black Phoenix, or even Irfan, but he didn't. The place where he appeared happens to be on the flight path the *Leonine* took when leaving the Behemoth Paradise."

The Chief of Staff is surprised. "You mean, he came for the Primordial Star-Vault Adventure Team?"

Isaphir replies, "Strictly speaking, for Captain Lu Chen."

Everyone’s expression grows solemn. Abuzhai had considered that this Lu Chen was no simple character, but he hadn't expected his background to be so complex. Isaphir continues to introduce Lu Chen: "He is a teenager skilled in hacking and spirit-mecha assembly, who survived by scavenging on the edge of a secondary Imperial alliance planet. Everything about him seemed ordinary before he went to sea, but strangely, the data I can find on him stops abruptly three years ago; it cannot be traced back any further... I came here to obtain all his adventure logs on the Morning Glow route."

Stops abruptly three years ago—could he be an abandoned slave? Everyone thinks this, not realizing the gravity of the problem.

"Could it be that the planetary collapse was not caused by Lu Chen, but by this powerhouse?"

Isaphir shakes her head. "No, the planetary collapse was the work of Captain Lu himself."

Everyone is puzzled. "Why is the Colonel so certain?"

"Because I personally monitored the *Loner*."

...

The *Leonine* sails through the turbulent Morning Glow route. The calm airspace where warp flight is possible is becoming increasingly rare. It is still a two-day journey to the nearest interstellar station of the Uncrowned Kingdom, *Gewu Star*.

For these two days, Lu Chen spends most of his time cultivating. He isn't practicing the Critical Strike technique anymore, just taking pills and sipping Goliath’s demonic blood to raise his cultivation as quickly as possible.

In the bathtub, Lu Chen is practicing his breathing after drinking the demonic blood. His eyes twitch, his breath erratic, as he tries to resist the mental attack of the demonic power while using that same power to forcibly accelerate the circulation of his Five-Elements spiritual energy, achieving an internal cycle within his Qi Sea.

Goliath’s cat-shaped phantom appears before him. Theoretically, Lu Chen is already at level 33, and Goliath is only level 38; the effectiveness of the demonic blood should be limited, and he should have adapted to its intensity. Yet, as Lu Chen stares at this fat, red-eyed cat, the mental attack is just as strong as the first time he absorbed the blood. He increasingly feels that this fat cat’s demonic nature is extremely potent, merely suppressed by various medicinal wines and the restrictions within her body. He can't help but lock eyes with the fat cat, as if seeing his own heart within her crimson gaze.

This is the nature of the demonic phantom. Every time Lu Chen sees the cat's eyes, he first sees the red charm patterns. Then, relying on his powerful mental strength, he gradually imagines them as his own Qi Sea vortex. Finally, the cat's eyes truly transform into the shape of the Qi Sea vortex. This means Lu Chen’s soul has forcibly suppressed the demonic nature, and his cultivation level rises accordingly.

At this moment, after Lu Chen suppresses the demonic nature of the blood, what appears in the cat's eyes is not the usual reverse-spiral Qi Sea vortex, but contracting ripple patterns. This shows that thoughts by day lead to dreams by night, and cultivation leads to insight. This suddenly makes him think of a problem—the ripple patterns of the Critical Strike technique have a gathering effect; could they be related to the Qi Sea vortex that gathers spiritual energy?

Both concentrate scattered spiritual energy into a single point. The Qi Sea vortex is a man-made reverse-rotating spiritual energy depression, creating the lowest potential energy in the body to continuously absorb external spiritual energy. Once a spell is cast, the vortex turns clockwise, releasing spiritual energy to drive the spell or mecha. The speed of the spiral is relatively slow, while the speed of the ripples is much faster.

This means that to master this reverse ripple pattern, one must create a deeper depression than the Qi Sea vortex. If the spiritual potential is low enough, the movement of spiritual energy changes from a spiral to a ripple—contracting deeper, spreading faster, and the force of the re-contraction becomes stronger, making the critical strike force on the target's low-potential depression even more powerful!

The problem now is: how to create low spiritual potential?

Lu Chen thinks for a long time. The only conclusion is that, without changing his cultivation level, he must dig the Qi Sea vortex deeper. It's like using a chopstick to poke someone: normal attack. If you sharpen the chopstick and then poke them, it's a critical strike!

Obviously, doing this brings two problems:
First, the Qi Sea could be punctured at any time, causing the Dantian to rupture and leading to death. For Lu Chen, this is not a problem at all: he has the "Risk Avoidance Guide," allowing him to dance on the edge of life and death, digging the vortex deeper day by day. One day, he will succeed.
Second, forcibly digging the Qi Sea vortex deeper is like trying to break through a bottleneck without sufficient conditions; one could easily succumb to demonic obsession. This is even less of a problem for Lu Chen. His Five-Elements balanced constitution is inherently hard to corrupt. Even if he dances on the edge, given his soul strength as a transmigrator and his years of experience in "recharging," it is difficult for him to succumb. Plus, he has the risk-avoidance tips.

In the end, Lu Chen concludes that he still has to rely on the risk-avoidance tips and his soul strength as a transmigrator. In other words, no one else could possibly succeed. Unless, of course, they truly grasp a higher-level "Chosen Power" with the Heavenly Dao protecting them.

And so, Lu Chen immediately begins his cultivation method of "one shovel a day," dancing on the edge of the grave! Previously, he cultivated by gathering spiritual energy to expand the area of the Qi Sea vortex, creating larger waves to increase spiritual pressure. Now, he focuses on digging the depth of the vortex, which is more than twice as difficult.

Soon, he realizes that he must increase the area of the vortex simultaneously to dig its depth. This means the consumption of pills and demonic blood skyrockets. Within two days, he finishes his own share of pills and borrows all of Ai-Li’s. He even has to spend his private savings to "smash" Goliath, so he can suck more demonic blood from her.

Gradually, Goliath notices the anomaly. Once, by the bathtub, when she reaches out to help him "recharge," she feels that Lu Chen’s mouth no longer has the resonant massage effect as before, but is instead sucking ruthlessly like a black hole or a gluttonous beast. Even she can't take it anymore.

"This isn't right. Your cultivation speed is the same as before; why do you look like you're about to collapse every time, and why do you need so many pills and demonic blood?"

Lu Chen says with a straight face, "The higher the cultivation, the harder it is to level up. Don't you understand a principle even a primary schooler knows?"

Goliath is dazed, still feeling something is wrong. She pulls down her collar and takes a look. The size seems to have shrunk... "Look at me, did I get thin lately? Even my chest is smaller."

Lu Chen doesn't even look, opening his mouth like a gluttonous beast. "Yes, bleeding has a weight-loss effect. Give me more!"

"Get lost." Goliath suddenly stands up, kicks Lu Chen back into the bathtub, and says sadly, "If I didn't cultivate, I wouldn't have stopped my period. My blood-making ability is strong; I could have enough demonic blood to guarantee a fortune just by selling it."

Stop what? Lu Chen shudders. "I wouldn't want that kind of blood."

With that, he takes off Goliath's slippers, grabs her ankles with both hands, and bites into her blood vessels. However, this time, to prevent Goliath from resisting, he uses resonance power on the tip of his tongue.

"Mm..."

Sure enough, Goliath can't take it. Frowning, standing on one leg, she falls into a daze, and her body loses balance and slides. Suddenly, Lu Chen grabs her ankle and pulls, and she tumbles into the bathtub water with a splash. Her shirt and pants are soaked, clinging to her slim yet curvaceous figure, and blood flows into Lu Chen’s blood-hungry mouth.

Outside the bathroom cabin, Ai-Li secretly records everything. "The Captain is such a pervert!" she thinks.

...

Two days later, Lu Chen’s cultivation increases from level 33 to 35, and his Critical Strike technique has a small success. While Ai-Li is asleep and Goliath is playing games, he sneaks into the cargo hold. He pokes a hole through a level 40 defensive steel plate! A level 40 defense means it can withstand level 40 sword strikes, spells, or blunt force, but it couldn't stop his finger. This is the first time Lu Chen feels that even without his armor, he is full of power.

And so... he pokes a level 50 defensive beast bone fragment! It breaks. He grits his teeth, makes no sound, and returns to the cockpit as if nothing happened. A small problem; a healing pill can fix it.

The radar shows that they are only one hour away from *Gewu Star*. Just then, the *Leonine* receives a distress signal from *Gewu Star*. The signal shows that the planet is suddenly under attack by a Nether-Spirit!

Lu Chen rubs his eyes, thinking he misread it. What era is this? How could a Nether-Spirit attack an ordinary planet? With the rise of the Abyss Nether-Demons, almost all Nether-Spirits scattered throughout the universe have been recruited. They have become tools of the Nether-Demons, usually attacking Imperial or Federal fleets, or planets with high spiritual energy concentrations. What is *Gewu Star*?

He searches for information on *Gewu Star*. It is a planet managed by the "Gewu Sect." It doesn't believe in science but manages its people through religious debates, even believing that "Gewu" (investigating things) can drive away demons. Because the people on the planet believe in bitter cultivation and resist personal desires, viewing enjoyment as shameful. Resources are distributed equally, maintaining basic survival. Only those with high levels of "Gewu" and eloquence can have more power, but they can only decide policy, not possess more resources.

Theoretically, such a society is too rigid, inefficient, and militarily weak, and should have been wiped out by space pirates long ago. But the first to discover it was the Uncrowned Kingdom. They found the people of *Gewu Star* to have pure hearts and, out of special interest, absorbed the planet, providing protection under their name to observe its social evolution.

"The Uncrowned Kingdom is truly making a mess of things..." Lu Chen sighs.

Goliath pouts, "What does this have to do with the Nether-Spirit?"

"We'll find out when we go take a look."

...

One hour later, the *Leonine* arrives at *Gewu Star*. The planet is small, and the spiritual energy concentration is average. It is mainly agricultural and handicraft-based; besides large farms, low stone houses are everywhere. However, the crops are all selected spiritual plants, perfectly adapted to the soil and spiritual energy of the planet. Ai-Li guesses, "These spiritual plants should have been selected by the Uncrowned Kingdom." Lu Chen nods.

The *Leonine* arrives over the capital. At this moment, a level 40 Nether-Spirit is devouring everything in sight. The citizens of the capital are seeing a Nether-Spirit for the first time and cannot withstand the mental attack; they faint directly, without even a chance to run or scream, and are swallowed alive. The local defense fleet is old-fashioned, left behind by the Uncrowned Kingdom thirty years ago. Although there are level 50 warships, the pilots, after learning to fly, returned to studying scriptures and never flew again. Now, faced with a Nether-Spirit, they are helpless. The level 50 ship is destroyed by the level 40 Nether-Spirit. Even the space station is ruined. The few low-level adventure ships waiting there dare not intervene and flee outside the atmosphere, waiting for the Uncrowned Kingdom’s rescue fleet.

Only the *Leonine* flies above the Nether-Spirit. Lu Chen realizes it is a humanoid Nether-Spirit with a withered body and a black halo above its head!

Goliath frowns, confused: "Strange. There are many humanoid Nether-Demons, but humanoid Nether-Spirits are extremely rare. They are usually spirits that have just turned into demons. But how could someone on a planet with such low spiritual energy succumb to demonic obsession?"

Lu Chen doesn't know either. "You go down and kill the Nether-Spirit; I'll go down and conduct a simple investigation."

The *Leonine* hovers outside the atmosphere. Goliath jumps out with her sword and falls toward the Nether-Spirit. Lu Chen drives his armor and descends with the Demon-Slaying Sword.

Lu Chen arrives at the capital and finds the mayor's office. Even now, the mayor is still directing the rescue work. This shows the mayor is quite capable, even demanding that Lu Chen show his rescue credentials to prove he isn't a space pirate. Lu Chen pulls out the "Idealist Medal" of the Uncrowned Kingdom and slams it onto the mayor's desk, instantly subduing him.

After questioning, he learns: according to witnesses, the Nether-Spirit first appeared at the Gewu Cathedral in the middle of the night, destroying it and devouring dozens of people, including the Bishop. Strangely, no signs of a spatial rift were found nearby... Lu Chen guesses it is highly likely a local turned into a demon. He learns that on the entire planet, fewer than five people reached level 30 cultivation, and that was naturally through eating crops, not intentional practice. On *Gewu Star*, high cultivation is useless; it's better to have high ideological standing. Only the Bishop was level 30 and had high standing.

"It seems the Bishop is the problem."

Lu Chen rushes to the stone house behind the cathedral where the Bishop lived. The house has been destroyed. Lu Chen uses his armor to dig out the ruins, uncovering a basement. He finds large amounts of stored spiritual seeds—mutated high-energy crop seeds of all types. Most have sprouted, and some have even fermented. He also finds some *Gewu* manuscripts. In a secret room, he finds traces of a burnt circular array with blood and fermented seeds on it.

Lu Chen flips through the manuscripts. He finds that the Bishop secretly stored high-level spiritual seeds not for food, but to increase his *Gewu* standing, hoping to reach the legendary "Supreme Being" state. A remnant ancient book records the ultimate array for reaching this state. The Bishop, clever and relying on his own insight, restored the spirit runes of the array step by step.

Lu Chen looks at the book. It is about *Gewu* scriptures, but the "Supreme Being Array" mentioned is a crude breakthrough array! It is an ancient array that requires a high spiritual environment, large amounts of fermented spiritual seeds, and the blood of one's descendants to complete the breakthrough.

"With this crude breakthrough method, the Bishop didn't die; he just succumbed to demonic obsession and turned into a Nether-Spirit. His cultivation even jumped from level 30 to 40, following the ancient methods of refining qi and foundation building. This shows the Bishop’s talent was first-rate, better than mine by more than a dimension. If he hadn't been in a crowded area and consumed so many people, causing his soul to be chaotic, perhaps he could have suppressed the demonic nature and lived on as a Nether-Demon."

Unfortunately, he devoured too many people and there is no turning back. Lu Chen doesn't tell the mayor about this cruelty. Leaving the cathedral, he looks up. Goliath is waving her flying sword in the air, but she still hasn't killed the Nether-Spirit. Lu Chen flies into the night sky and asks Goliath, "You're not having trouble killing them because they're your own kind, are you?"

Goliath pulls away from the Nether-Spirit, panting. Although she is immune to the Nether-Spirit's mental attacks and won't have her spiritual energy devoured, her sword technique is great for killing people and ships, but not very effective against Nether-Spirits when her cultivation isn't higher. Unless she turns into a Nether-Demon and devours the other side... but then Lu Chen would have to kill her.

However, she won't admit this. "You have the nerve to say that... Humans are not made of iron or stone; how can one kill their own kind? Don't you have the Demon-Slaying Sword? You kill him!" With that, Goliath recalls her sword and turns back to the ship. But she doesn't return to the cockpit; she jumps onto the top of the ship and sits cross-legged on the edge. She takes out her wine gourd, drinking while watching Lu Chen’s "demon-slaying performance." If Lu Chen isn't effective or encounters an accident, she will have to go back into battle.

Lu Chen thinks, why is this woman so humble? When she was killing demons in the True Spirit Realm, she was one-shotting them without blinking. There is no help for it; he has to kill the Nether-Spirit himself.

Looking at the Bishop’s withered, dark figure and the black halo above his head, he feels a sense of tragedy... The people on *Gewu Star* have strong collectivist spirit and little personal greed. The Bishop’s greed was not for money, women, or power, but for knowledge and doctrine. He secretly seized resources, prepared for the array, and ended up a monster.

Lu Chen hovers in mid-air, face-to-face with the Bishop, and raises his right hand, spreading his fingers. A level 40 laser cannon fires! The laser burns through the Nether-Spirit, but the high-energy spiritual particles, which are more threatening, are completely absorbed. The burned part heals rapidly. This shot has no effect on the Nether-Spirit.

"Laser cannons don't work; this is troublesome."

Laser cannons are ineffective, and lightsabers are out of the question. At most, they would cut a hole that would heal immediately, and the spiritual energy from the lightsaber might be drained. This is why Nether-Spirits or Nether-Demons are invincible at the same level. For a Nether-Spirit, spiritual energy at the same or lower level is absorbed, and objects are swallowed and crushed. Even if a nuclear bomb were thrown in, it wouldn't explode.

Fortunately, he doesn't receive a risk-avoidance tip, which means he must have a way to kill the Nether-Spirit. "I'll have to try the Demon-Slaying Sword!"

Lu Chen takes out the Demon-Slaying Sword, holding it in his armor's palm. It feels a bit small. This sword is actually a key for manual piloting of the Dragon-Class battle cruiser, level 60. But the cruiser has a spiritual pool drive, so he could barely pilot it. This sword can only be driven by a person; with his level 35 cultivation, how can he drive a level 60 sword?

Lu Chen flies toward the Nether-Spirit with the sword, attempting close combat! The Bishop Nether-Spirit, having consumed hundreds of people, has grown to over thirty meters tall, far larger than Lu Chen's armor. Up close, the Nether-Spirit carries an air of compassion that seems to transcend humanity. Its mental attack is also biased toward unspeakable scriptures, ancient calls, and a sort of pseudo-religious divinity.

Lu Chen almost loses his grip. He feels a chill down his spine, sweating profusely, with an urge to confess to God. He grits his teeth, resisting, and pulls up the item identification.

【Bishop Horas of Gewu Star, a humanoid Nether-Spirit formed by demonic obsession. Even after devouring hundreds, he has not completely lost his mind, and has the potential to evolve into a Nether-Demon.】

"What kind of ghost willpower is this? Truly, to become a Buddha, one must first become a demon!"

But it is only a possibility; Lu Chen has to kill him regardless. With the help of the external interface, Lu Chen feels his mental state improve. He can see that the Nether-Spirit’s skin absorbs all light, approaching absolute black, but releases a faint "Nether-force."

Lu Chen closes in on the Nether-Spirit's body, finding an opportunity. He swings the sword at the Nether-form! The tip easily carves a crack into the body, and the crack shows signs of expanding. The tip itself remains perfectly sharp, showing no signs of being corroded by the Nether-force.

"As expected of the Demon-Slaying Sword!"

However, the next moment, the Nether-Spirit opens the white eye on its forehead, and blood seeps from the eyelid into the socket, staining the white eyeball red. The Nether-force rises, and the wound heals rapidly. Lu Chen sees that it is fundamentally a lack of cultivation. If he had level 40 cultivation, this sword might have already finished off the invincible Nether-Spirit. Unfortunately, he is only level 35, allowing the Nether-Spirit to react and heal itself.

Fortunately, this Nether-Spirit has just formed, its movements are slow, and it doesn't release magic flames remotely, otherwise he would be in danger.

In the cockpit light screen, Ai-Li suggests, "Captain, try your 'Myriad Phenomena Resonance'!"

Lu Chen is thinking of other tactics and almost forgot about that. He immediately switches to manual control, senses the Nether-force, and releases resonant spiritual energy, spreading it onto the blade of the Demon-Slaying Sword. Closing in, he swings again!

This strike carves through the Nether-Spirit's body again. The Nether-Spirit lets out a silent wail. A hole opens in its body, and the edges of the wound vibrate violently. A ripple forms and spreads across its whole body. The hole turns into a giant cavern, and the body almost collapses. Several digested, mangled corpses fall out from the Nether-body.

Seeing it about to collapse, the eye on the Nether-Spirit's forehead forms a blood ring. The black flame demonic halo above its head rotates, flashing with a pure white light akin to holy light. Under the healing of the white light, the Nether-Spirit stabilizes its form and recovers. It even points a hand at Lu Chen, looking ready to shoot magic flames.

Fortunately, Lu Chen has already cloaked and vanished. Even Goliath is stunned. "White Demon—what spirit, what a persistent heart to seek the sacred..."

"It seems the local who turned into a demon could have become a demon, or even a high-level Great Demon, if not for being in a crowded area."

Unfortunately, Lu Chen doesn't give the Bishop another chance. He comes up behind the Nether-Spirit and uses the Critical Strike technique, gathering all his spiritual energy at the tip of the Demon-Slaying Sword.

He stabs the sword into the Nether-back! In an instant, space and time freeze, the ripples contract, and the white halo above the Nether-Spirit's head... collapses with a roar.